Abu Dhabi performs an increase of 3.3% in consumer prices

An increase of the order of 3.3 per cent in consumer prices has shown, according to Statistics Centre of Abu Dhabi. This is compared with the first two months of 2015.

February presented the biggest increase (3.4 per cent), mainly in services such as electricity, gas, water and housing. The prices are up, not only comparing to February 2015, but also for both first months of the year. This increase in consumer prices has reach 79.5 percentage points of the overall inflation rate.

The increase in prices was expected, after the announcement of new rates for electricity and water services last December. This had as a result an increase of 6.6 per cent to water tariffs.

Now, when it comes to food and drinks, an increase of the order of 1.4 per cent was shown for January and February 2016, compared to the same period of last year.

Other areas that also saw an increase in consumer prices were those of restaurants and hotels. The “Restaurants and hotels” group specifically, presented an increase of 5.4 per cent, which translates to 6.1 percentage points to the inflation rate.

However, there was a dim decrease of 0.2 per cent, from January to February 2016, mainly coming from transportations prices that presented a decrease of the order of 1.6 per cent.

There was a difference between the areas concerning the increase in consumer prices. Abu Dhabi saw an increase of 4 per cent, while Al Ain saw 2.8 per cent for the same period. The Western Region presented 2.2 per cent in February 2016 compared to February 2015.